


One Heart Lost

by AngelofMuses



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: F/M, Role Reversal AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 20:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10316201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelofMuses/pseuds/AngelofMuses
Summary: When Leo Dancer's blade pierced through his shoulder, Ray didn't have time to react.And she never would.





	

                The scream rips through her ears. Leo Dancer’s blade sticks through her opponent’s shoulder, and crimson blood splatters against the metal. It happens so fast, Ray’s still smiling through the attack, the horror not registering until he hits the ground. Then there’s silence.

                When the pained moans and blood finally connect in her brain, Ray freezes. She can’t move, every muscle locked in place as she stares at the body across from her. Leo Dancer dissipates into a thousand small sparkles, and the action field slowly disappears around them. Ray’s throat goes dry as she sees the crowd. Oh god, what will they think of her now? Has she ruined everything? Has she lost her only chance to reach them? She had tried so hard to reach them, so they could accept her and others like her. But now…. The man laying on the other side of the field starts hacking, and she can’t think about it anymore. She’s completely lost for words, eyes slowly trailing back to her opponent, who has a slow stream of blood trickling out the side of his mouth.

                The deafening quiet only gets louder as he passes out and his cries die away. The tension in the air is so suffocating that Ray thinks she might just drown in it. She takes a few tentative steps forward to try and help him, maybe stop the bleeding. But then a sound cuts through the silence.

Applause. They’re… cheering for her? It starts out small, a few people scattered across the arena hesitantly clapping in a slow, nearly torturous manner that makes her wonder if they’re clapping in jest. She’s proven wrong when the sound becomes louder, faster, and more people begin to add their praise to the noise. Someone whistles, and the somehow becomes even louder as the arena just explodes. People start chanting her name, all out of sync and with different tones, but she can hear each scream of “RAY!” crystal clear.

She can’t understand. They never cheered for her. Even when she had tried her hardest to please them, become something they could love, her audience would only give her half-hearted praise. There’s absolutely no way they could…. Love this. Love her.

What had kept her mind grounded to her body is snapped, and a giggle escapes her. Then another, and another. After a moment, she’s in a full-on belly laugh grinning like crazy as she waves to the crowd with both hands, jumping and walking back to get in better view of the cameras. She’s on autopilot, and her head is still screaming in horror at what just happened. NO! He’s hurt, he’s hurt, don’t cheer, please, please stop…

But none of that makes it to her body, as she flashes a victory sign with one hand and keeps waving with the other. Her face has a wide grin stretched ear to ear, and the runners of the event finally displays her “WINNER” badge over the enormous hologram of her in the middle of the stadium.

                Ray blows a kiss to the audience, and someone actually reaches out to catch it. She laughs again, but it feels so fake, so unnatural. Her pigtails catch in her face as she whips around to face the crowd. This isn’t what’s supposed to happen, this isn’t what she should be doing.

                When Ray finally gets to the exit area, she’s still grinning. It feels terrible, like someone had stuck hooks in the sides of her lips and pulled up hard, and she can’t relax her face to reflect the storm inside of her head. She catches a glance of herself in reflection on the glass walls of the hall, and she realizes she looks positively manic. She’s horrified at how happy she looks, like an absolute psychopath. Somehow, that beckons the hooks to stretch her grin even wider, and let out another tiny giggle through her teeth.

                ‘RAY!” She flips around, only to see Zarc barreling towards her. His eyes are shining with concern, but she doesn’t have a second to register that before he wraps his arms around her.   She’s caught in a tight hug, nearly crushing her. Every other time she saw Zarc after a match, she would feel happy to see the man she loved, the one who supported her. The one who would dream with her about making the world better for people like them. Now, though, Zarc just makes an empty numbness spread through her chest. Her brain is screaming at her to cry, scream, and fall into his hug while rambling. But she doesn’t.

                “Oh my god, are you ok? What happened out there?! That guy got hurt, really badly! I called the paramedics, but they’re having trouble getting here with all the people. But, god, are you ok?! I know you didn’t mean to do that, it wasn’t your faul- Ray?” He finally seems to be looking at her face, and the grin that had fixed itself there. She wants to cry. She wants to cry so badly into Zarc’s shoulder but the tears don’t come.

                “Ray… are you ok?” He puts his hand on her shoulder, and she tenses up. She doesn’t feel anything at his touch except the guilt that her body refuses to acknowledge.  That’s not right, what’s wrong with her, what’s going on? Against her will, another giggle racks her body, and suddenly the look of concern of Zarc’s face morphs into something more serious…. more terrified.

                Footsteps ring down the hallways, and no less than three news networks start sprinting around the corner. Reporters lead the crews, while cameramen and people with boom mics hurriedly chase after them. Still smiling, Ray pushes Zarc away and walks to the cameras. He tries to grab her wrist and she’s almost back in control for a solitary second, shocked by the tightness of his grip and pain in his face. He’s so desperate, and it almost gives her the strength to break out of the smiling doll act her body has decided to take. But then the reporters finally meet her, and the smile slips back on when the cameras are shoved into her face. She pulls her wrist away, and Zarc is suddenly pushed away as the cameras and people block her in, cutting her off from him. She can barely hear his footsteps as he runs off. It makes the numbing guilt cut through her heart, but she still can’t show it. She can’t right now anyway, there’s too many cameras, too many strangers around her. Maybe… she should just be grateful that she’s like this for now.

                More people start pouring into the hallway when they find the entrance, and fans, networks, brand representatives, and even other duelists are crowding the hallways. They all want to see the Dueling Queen.

                “You got a standing ovation today! How did it feel, the moment you won?” Like the world had stopped spinning.

                “You were keeping up with your monster effortlessly! How do you predict her movements?” Oh god she didn’t predict this, she wouldn’t ever want this.

                “Is this going to be the future of dueling?” No, please god no.

                She lies through her teeth for every question. Of course she intended to be more forceful, of course she knew this was going to change the way people viewed the sport, and of course she’s going to work hard in the future to make every duel as exciting as this. Then come the autographs. Ray signs her name no less than a few hundred times, on paper, clothes, skin, whatever blank space people had. It takes a full hour and a half for the crowds to clear out enough for Ray to even attempt leaving. But once she gets outside, she’s hounded by the masses of people who couldn’t get pass security. She signs her name a thousand more times after that.

                This is what she wanted, right? People to cheer her name, to sing her praises? So why does she feel disgusted with herself for it? She shakes hands with several of the event competitors, and takes enough pictures that there are spots in her vision from all the camera flashes. Ray has to stumble home, stopping constantly for more people to ask for her picture, her autograph, or her time. Some people even offer her to go out for drinks to congratulate her victory. She declines politely. By time she manages to stumble into the condo her father has, she feels dead tired. She overexerted herself physically in the duel, but that’s nothing compared to the emotionally fatigue she feels from being trapped inside her own head for hours. She doesn’t want to fake it a second longer, but her body won’t let the act drop. Something is forcing her to keep pushing herself, march forward without a slip in that god-awful smile.

                She thanks god that her father isn’t home, off on another expedition for his research. She couldn’t face him right now, not like… this. She drags into the kitchen, pulling out her phone to check the time.

_57 Missed Messages_

_17 Missed Calls_

Oh.

She still doesn’t quite feel in control of herself, even though she fought through all the people and cameras and praise already. Even so, her body doesn’t stop her from swiping open her messages and looking through them. They’re all from Zarc, and each is a desperate plea for her to talk to him as soon as possible, please call him, please see him.

_“Sorry I missed your texts. Got caught up in a lot of interviews.”_ The ellipses speech bubble pops up immediately after her response, and faster than she knew someone could type, he responds.

_“Ray, please come see me.”_

Her heart twists. She wants to see him, but she can’t make herself type that out. Her fingers move without her permission.

_“I’m tired rn, maybe tomorrow?”_

_“No, I need to see you now. Please”_

_“I’m going to bed.”_

_“Ray no wait”_

_“I’ll see you tomorrow._ _❤”_

_“Ray PLEASE”_

She turns off her phone. In the reflection on the black screen, she can see that her mouth is still upturned in a sick grin. She’s starting to hate the look of her own smile. She drifts into her room, completely spent. Ray unstraps her deck from her leg and throws her duel disk in the corner. She crawls into bed, not even bothering to change clothes. As she stares at the ceiling, something cold tickles her cheek.

It’s a tear.

**Author's Note:**

> Haha it's been a while since I've done fic, please leave your thoughts in the comments below! The story is pretty short for one shot standards, but I hope I got the point across :D


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